


Dark Side of the Stars

by Runic



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Friends to Enemies to Lovers, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Loss of Trust, M/M, Mentions of Character Death, Minor Character Death, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Politics, Psychological Drama, Rating May Change, Trust Issues, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:54:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23901148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Runic/pseuds/Runic
Summary: Byleth returns after five years, only to meet with an arrow aimed at her chest and a sword pressed against her back. She had thought Claude cared for her, had thought she felt herself growing to return those feelings, but instead of welcoming her back, he has Byleth thrown into a cell.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth (one sided), My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan, Yuris Leclair | Yuri Leclerc/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 108
Kudos: 212





	1. Reunion at Dawn

**Author's Note:**

> I should not be starting another story, but fuck it. Had this idea, and ended up typing it up really fast while being frustrated about another piece that wasn't coming out the way I wanted it to. 
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy this tasty platter on angst.
> 
> Thank you Cirro for offering edits and feedback!

Five years.

Had five years really passed since the battle? Byleth doubted the villager who had found her had any reason to lie, but it was still hard to believe she had slept for so long. It seemed so much had changed, based on the state of the monastery alone. 

And what of her precious Deer? How had the years treated them? Were they healthy and thriving, or had this new cruel world torn them apart and left them in ruins as it had with the Church?

Would they even remember the promise they had made in those happier times?

Byleth mounted the first stair leading up to the Goddess Tower, carefully picking her way around debris. Something was pulling her here, telling her this was where she needed to be. It felt almost as if Sothis was with her once more. 

As she crested the last step, Byleth saw there was someone waiting for her. He was richly dressed, back going rigid at the sound of her footsteps. He slowly turned to face her, his handsome face down turned in a frown. 

“Rude of you to keep a man waiting, Teach.”

His voice was falsely pleasant. There was a harshness to it Byleth could not place. Bitter and sharp, edging close to...hate? They were all emotions Byleth could name, but her limited experience with them left her unable to place the correct label on them.

And he had called her Teach. Only one person ever did that. Her eyes lifted to deep emerald ones, wavering between anger and hurt. 

“Claude?” she breathed out. What had happened to him?

Claude chuckled, and very much like his smile, there was no truth to it. “Didn’t think you’d actually come, Teach. Going to finish me off as well?”

Byleth’s lips creased into a frown. What did he mean by that?

“Claude,” Byleth started again. She moved to take a step toward him, but immediately stopped as he whipped the bow off his back, knocking an arrow with a well practiced maneuver. 

“Don’t,” he ordered, his voice sharp, no longer hiding his hostility behind the thin veil of pleasantry. “Don’t come a step closer, or I will not hesitate to put this between your eyes.”

The tip of the arrow sparked with a strange red and black energy. A Hero’s Relic then. Most likely Failnaught, the heirloom of the Riegan family. She had read about it in one of the books Claude himself recommended to her.

Something tightened in her chest. Byleth looked down, making sure that no arrow had come to rest between her breasts. The last time she had seen Claude he had told her how much she meant to him, in his own ‘can’t trust myself enough to actually say the words’ way. She had vowed to herself to tell him how much he meant to her, after the battle was won and he would be considered a graduate of the Academy, a ceremony tainted in blood and death. He was the heir apparent of the Alliance, and she only a merc, but she did not want to leave his side. He had hinted before at the dreams he carried, and his vision of the world had sounded like something Byleth could find herself fighting for, not because someone paid, but because he had given her a purpose.

So why now did he treat her as an enemy? Was he angry that she had been gone for so long? More and more questions were piling up, and Byleth continued to fail at finding her answers.

“Throw the sword down, Teach,” Claude ordered. 

Cold steel pressed against the back of her neck, and Byleth mentally cursed herself. She was so absorbed with her former student she had not heard anyone come up behind her.

“I would do as he says, friend.”

Yuri. And by his tone he most certainly did not consider her a friend anymore. 

Byleth reached for the Sword of the Creator, fingers curling around its hilt. She did not take her eyes off Claude’s face, saw as his eyes narrowed further, as she raised the sword in front of her. She held it close to her chest, almost eerily similar to the woman who had haunted her dreams with war and death before Sothis’ awakening. 

Behind her, Yuri’s blade pressed against her skin. She felt the sting as it pierced her flesh, a warm droplet of blood rolling down between her shoulder blades. He reached around her, and for a moment Byleth resisted him, but Claude’s emerald eyes judged her. 

Byleth let it go.

The barest hint of relief flickered through those eyes she could not take her sight from, but Byleth was not given a chance to linger on that. 

Yuri grabbed both of her hands, calloused fingertips scratching at her skin, and forced Byleth’s arms behind her back. Rope secured her hands, and she was marched back down the stairs. 

Neither Claude nor Yuri said anything to her as they led her through the monastery grounds. They kept their weapons drawn, alert and looking for any enemies that could possibly come upon them. The villager had mentioned bandits, but Byleth doubted those were the foes her former students were on the lookout for. 

Yuri grabbed a torch as they reached a thick iron door. Claude pulled forth a ring of keys, unlocking the heavy door to reveal a set of stairs leading into darkness, ones they Byleth had never noticed before. The trek down was time consuming, Byleth unable to move very fast with her hands behind her back, or else risk serious injury by falling the rest of the way. Never once did they try to hurry her, intent on whatever grim task they were carrying out for her.

The air had grown damp and heavy by the time they reached the bottom of the stairs. Claude produced the key ring again, unlocking another door, and Yuri guided Byleth through. The whole thing was rather polite given the circumstances.

She found herself in a wide circular room, a series of cells set into the walls. Byleth had not realized Garreg Mach even had a dungeon. Yuri led her to the largest of the cells, and waited as Claude produced the last key. At least they were kind enough to remove the ropes before Yuri held the cell door open for her, even if their hands lingered on their weapons until she stepped inside.

Byleth turned to look at Claude, but he was no longer willing to meet her gaze. A muscle twitched in his cheek, almost as if she had managed to slap him across the face with her eyes alone.

The sound of the door closing behind her had a note of finality to it that almost brought tears to her eyes.

“Keep an eye on her,” Claude told Yuri, the latter handing over the Sword of the Creator. “I need to update the others.”

Yuri leaned back against a wall on the opposite side of the room where he would have a perfect view of every move Byleth took. He nodded in acknowledgement, waving his hand in an almost flirtatious gesture. 

Claude paused for the briefest of moments, and Byleth’s heart leapt, thinking he might actually turn around. She wanted desperately to ask him what had happened, what terrible crime she had committed to become a prisoner. But Claude did not look back. Claude said nothing more to her before that door crashed closed behind him.


	2. Questions and More Questions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all your support in the first chapter. I have seriously gone through and thought about the consequences of this fic, which is what caused the delay in this second chapter. I will be updating the tags as we go, so please pay attention to them as this fic will get progressively darker over the next few chapters. 
> 
> That being said, I do hope you enjoy this.
> 
> A huge thanks to my beta reader for this chapter, Cirro. She helped me out a lot with some flow problems and has been wonderful to bounce ideas off of. Thank you for helping me get this whole thing to come together. 
> 
> Also, everyone go hug Mads, because I continuously torture her with this story.

There was an intake of breath as he placed the bone sword on the table. Hilda’s eyes went wide, staring at him in horror, Lysithea next to her actually letting the plate of cake she had acquired slip from her fingers. Lorenz looked like someone had just punched him in the stomach while telling him he had lost his title. Leonie might very well charge out of the room if Marianne were not trembling next to her. Even unshakable Raphael placed a large arm around Ignatz to steady his friend. 

“Is that-is that the real one?” Hilda asked, her voice tripping over the words.

Claude nodded sharply, resting his elbows on the table and folding his hands in front of his face. “So now the question becomes, what do we do?”

“What do you mean?” Lorenz snapped out of his stupor, rounding on Claude. “Did you just happen to find the Sword of the Creator lying around? Where did you get this?” he demanded.

Claude stared him down until Lorenz shrank back in his seat, his posture rigid and statuesque, before his shoulders slumped forward, crumbling in discomfort. “She kept her promise.”

Another silence settled over the room. No one dared even breathe as their eyes went back to the sword lying on the table between them. 

It was Lysithea who moved first, angrily stomping to his side. “Where is she, Claude?” the young mage demanded. “What did you do with her?”

Claude looked up, meeting her eyes. His gaze flitted around the room, meeting all the former Deer before he sighed and leaned back into his chair. “She came easily enough when Yuri and I arrested her. She is in the cells right now.”

“You can’t be serious?” Leonie interjected. “After everything she’s done, all you do is arrest her!” 

Claude took the brunt of Leonie’s anger, watching as the woman’s hands tightened into fists. Leonie slammed the table, cursing loudly. Not even Lorenz dared try to correct her. They all knew the struggle Leonie had faced trying to keep her promise to Jeralt in the face of such an unexpected situation. 

“She has never had the Sword of the Creator with her before,” Marianne whispered, pointing out the one thing that had so bothered Claude since Byleth had walked up the steps of the Goddess Tower only, what was it, an hour ago by now.

“Do you think they found it?” Hilda asked, sounding doubtful.

“I don’t think so,” Claude answered. When he spoke, the rest of the Deer turned to him, their attention hooked on his every word. They had relied so heavily on him since Edelgard started this stupid war. He had guided them through so much. He would do the same through this. “There is no way Edelgard would have allowed the Sword of the Creator to fall into our hands like this.”

“Did she come without telling the Emperor?” Ignatz asked in a voice even smaller than his usual one. “I know the woman we’ve seen over the past few years is not one any of us would consider sentimental, but…” There was a hint of hope in his voice that tugged at the fractures in Claude’s heart, the same hope that had been trying to piece it back together over the last hour. 

“She certainly seemed different,” Claude relented. 

“What do you mean by ‘different?’” Lorenz pressed. 

Claude sighed, shifting again so that his cheek rested against his fist, elbow propped up on the table. Stars but this whole situation was giving him a headache. “I mean, she seemed like Teach. Like the woman who led us in battle, who cared about us, ate with us. That was who came here carrying that sword today.” He waved his hand almost dismissively at the weapon before him. He had once yearned for its power, wanted to use it to achieve his dreams. Now he did not even want to look at it.

“The woman who openly swore fealty to Edelgard, who presided over the executions at Fhirdiad, and hunted us along the Airmid River, that was not who I saw today.”

Lysithea seemed to be the only one who understood, her face blanching white as her hair as the piece clicked into place. “Claude,” she whispered, hands shaking in fear. “You do not think…?”

He turned to her, keeping her gaze as he answered. “I think it is a distinct possibly. Honestly, it is one I thought of when this all started, but I brushed it off as wishful thinking.”

“Claude, you don’t mean…” Hilda began, catching on. “You don’t think the Professor beside Edelgard is like Solon and Kronya, do you?”

The realization crashed over the room, fear and guilt, and a dozen emotions too turbulent for him to name raced across every face. 

“We might be dealing with a fake Teach.”

/

“You certainly had a lot of nerve coming back here.” Yuri said the words lightly, his usual falsely cheerful tune, but there was a malice there Byleth had never heard before.

Byleth lifted her eyes to look at him, keeping her chin tucked against her knees. Her arms wrapped around her legs, pulling them close to her chest to keep herself warm. The damp of the river still soaked her clothes, and the cold in the cell was doing her no favors. But the cold was the least of her problems, and with what had happened so far, she doubted either Yuri or Claude would listen to her complaints right now.

She answered him with silence, not knowing how to address his bitterness. So she curled up further into herself, wrapping her arms tighter around her legs. Stars, she must have looked pathetic for Yuri’s eyes to narrow so when he looked at her.

Yuri clicked his tongue, face contorting in disgust, before going back to sharpening his dagger. The only sounds in the jail were the  _ tap tap _ of a slow leak of water, and the whetstone scraping against metal. The latter gradually grew louder, each strike becoming more aggressive as it passed along the blade. 

Byleth’s heart clenched. She knew what was coming, but could not find it within herself to distract him. Maybe if she remained quiet he would calm himself before he did something stupid. 

And just like that, she was proven wishful. Yuri cursed loudly as his hand slipped, blood pouring down his wrist as it pumped from the deep gash he had carved into his thumb. “Fucking hell,” he hissed, the words echoing off the stone walls.

“Yuri!” Byleth was on her feet, hands grasping the bars. She did not know ranged healing like Marianne or Mercedes, but if he came closer she could still help. “Yuri, I can-”

“You can what?” he snarled. His usually calm mask slipped, exposing the angry wolf beneath. Byleth felt her breath hitch as she drew back a step, still unused to the hatred radiating off of him. “You can ‘help’ me? Like you did with those Edelgard had you hunt down? Like you did with...with Balthus?” The last two words seemed to break him, getting stuck behind a lump in his throat. Yuri turned from her, but Byleth could see him wiping at his eyes.

“Fuck,” Yuri muttered again, cursing once more as he forgot about his injury and smeared blood into his eyes. 

“Yuri,” Byleth repeated. She used the tone that had come so naturally to her in class. The one that made Sylvain stop flirting with Dorothea. That made Claude stop doodling up different ideas for poisons. That made Lorenz stop with his pompous nobility, even if only for a few moments. “Yuri, come here,” she ordered.

He obeyed. As if she had cast some spell upon him, Yuri stepped closer to the cell. 

Byleth took his hand before Yuri had time to contemplate defiance, trying to ignore the hurt in her chest when he flinched, and poured white magic into the wound. It was not as neat as one of Mercedes’ treatments, the scare she left behind as rough around the edges as herself, but it got the job done.

When she finished and looked up, Yuri was staring at her with a mixture of confusion and hurt. He wanted to hate her, she could see it, could see that something in him still called for her punishment, but there was a hesitation now that was not there before.

“Yuri, what happened?” Byleth asked. She could not help tracing her thumb along the newly knitted skin, all pink and shiny. 

Yuri paused, as if afraid of betraying something within himself. “They died,” he finally uttered, voice eerily calm. He took his hand back, turning his back on her. She watched helplessly as he went back to leaning against the opposite wall, tilting his head up and closing his eyes. “They all died.”

Byleth wanted to tear apart the bars of her cell, wanted to rush through and shake Yuri until he gave her the full story. Who had died? How had they died? Had Edelgard continued her attacks after Byleth fell? What had happened in the supposed five years she was gone? And why did they all think she was involved? What horrible crime had she committed?

Byleth’s fingers tightened around the cool metal of the cell door until her knuckles turned white. She focused on the pressure, using it to keep herself centered. Before she came to the monastery something like this would not have phased her. Nothing would have phased her. But Sothis had awoken, and she had taught the Deer. They had shown her friendship and joy, and Claude...Claude had shown her love. Byleth wanted that back. She needed to know what had happened so she could find some way to fix it all. 

Before she could come up with any sort of plan, she heard the footsteps on the stairs. They echoed down the flight long before Claude arrived, turning the key and stepping through the metal door that separated the cells from the stairs to the surface. Hardened green eyes flickered her way for a brief moment before Claude’s gaze turned to Yuri.

Byleth watched as Claude’s brow furrowed, eyes caught on the blood staining Yuri’s sleeve and face. “Did she-” Claude began, taking a series of quick steps over to the other house leader.

Yuri shook his head, cutting off Claude’s question. “No, I was stupid,” he answered, even as Claude gripped his chin, assessing that the blood covering Yuri’s cheek was not of actual concern. The way he touched Yuri was so familiar it startled Byleth just as much as their hatred. How much had she truly missed while she slept?

Seemingly satisfied, Claude let go of Yuri’s chin, but did not step back. “I’m going to ask her a few questions.”

Yuri searched Claude’s face for a brief moment, nodding his head as something silent passed between them. “All right. I’ll bring down dinner when it’s ready.”

With his usual graceful movements, mask set back in place, Yuri stepped around Claude and exited the room, that terrible thud following him as the heavy iron door moaned shut.

That left Byleth alone with Claude, this new Claude so much more grown up and world weary than the one she had known before. He had become terribly handsome, but there was a weight on his shoulders, something dragging him down that made him seem perpetually sad. Byleth found herself wishing against that the bars were not between her and her captor. She would reach out and hold Claude, let him have the moment to break it so desperately seemed he needed. 

“All right, Teach,” Claude said with a sigh, running a gloved hand through his hair to push back an unruly lock. “Let’s get started then.” He leveled those dark emerald eyes on her, and Byleth felt like the deer before the hunter. She was frozen in place, despite every instinct telling her to run.

“Why did you join Edelgard?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I am kind of nervous about continuing to present this fic, so I hope you guys liked this new chapter.


	3. Can't Let Me Go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone. I know it has been awhile since I've posted anything. If you follow me on twitter you know I've been having some health problems, and it's taking a bit of a toll on trying to write as much as I want to. I'm going to be slowing down on my updates, but for right now I have no plans to discontinue anything. Thank you to everyone who has been supporting me.
> 
> And speaking of twitter, if anyone remembers the poll I put out awhile ago there the options were Dimitri and Dedue vs. Sylvain and Felix, uh yeah, this chapter finally has the context for it. Yes, I am evil and aware of it.

_ “Why did you join Edelgard?” _

The words rang in her ears, yet another thing to throw Byleth off her axis. The entire rotation of her world was being smacked around like a kitten with a ball of yarn at this point.

Claude waited, staring at her with those emerald eyes she had recognized him by. Byleth felt a dozen strange emotions flicker through her, the only outward sign of her internal conflict the slight crease in her brow.

“Claude, the last thing I remember fighting against Edelgard when she attacked the monastery,” Byleth finally answered.

Claude’s response was a small frown. “Is that right?” he asked, light as if they were about to have a disagreement about the weather. “You couldn’t tell me anything at all that happened since then?”

Byleth shook her head, trying not to feel annoyed. She was not a Professor answering a student’s questions. She was a prisoner, and no matter how Claude acted, this was an interrogation. “I was fighting alongside you and Dimitri before trying to help Rhea.” Something in the way Claude’s face shifted told Byleth that she had given him some previously unknown piece of information. She continued on, not having enough data herself to puzzle whatever thread he had unraveled. “After that I fell. When I woke up I was on a riverbank, a fisherman telling me it was the day of the Millenium Festival and the monastery was destroyed.”

She watched Claude swallow hard when she mentioned her fall, watched his face harden again as his suspicion came back at her story. “That’s it?”

Byleth simply nodded. She had nothing more to tell.

Claude’s frown deepened, and his head tilted down. Byleth knew that look, knew he was lost in thought trying to make sense of his new information, changing strategies based on what he had learned. 

“Claude,” she whispered after a moment, his head snapping back up at her voice. “What happened? This isn’t simply because I have been missing for five years.”

Claude was silent for another long moment before he sighed heavily and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “We looked for you, you know. After you fell. Spent months searching as many places as we could think of.” There was an edge to Claude’s voice that told Byleth this was going to hurt. “And then, wouldn’t you know it, we got confirmation that the rumors about Edelgard finding you were true. You were like her attack dog, unleashed on Abyss.”

Byleth’s throat felt tight. It was as if someone were trying to squeeze her chest until every rib cracked under the pressure.  _ Balthus. _ Was that what Yuri had meant? Had she killed Balthus and destroyed Abyss?

Claude paused in their game of judging one another’s reactions, his eyes scanning Byleth’s outwardly unflinching form. “I didn’t want to believe it,” he said softly. He spoke just above a whisper, but the stone walls magnified his words, leaving them ringing in her ears. She could hear the notes of pain he was trying to hold back. “But they all saw you. They saw you cutting down people they were trying to protect.”

Byleth did flinch then, but Claude’s face went back to that deep frown, something about it spurring him on. 

“Still, I thought it might be some trick. I told myself the woman I...I knew would never do the atrocities they were attributing to her. But then I saw you.” His words were a whispered hiss, eyes slitted into a glare. His carefully crafted demeanor of calm and serious was cracking, allowing his anger to peak through. “I saw you at Fhirdiad, when they were going to execute Dimitri.”

Byleth went completely still, not even sure if she was breathing. Dimitri’s sad smile floated in front of her. Her mind pulled up memories from after the Battle of the Eagle and Lion, when Claude and Dimitri had laughed good naturedly about the Deer’s win. They had sat together, the houses intermingling. It was the first time Byleth saw Claude’s smile match his eyes.

“Is...is Dimitri…?” She trailed off, unable to work the words from her dry throat. She never had a problem being frank before, but then again, no one had ever told her she was suspected of killing one of her precious students before either.

Claude shrugged, not giving Byleth a true answer. “Not that day that I’m aware of. Dedue spearheaded a rescue.”

That tightness in her chest wanted to dissipate, but Byleth held on so it could not come crashing around her again. Claude would not be this upset if that was the end of it. He had not actually answered her, Byleth pointed out to herself. A lot had happened in five years. Dimitri could be...he could be....

“Sylvain and Felix, however,” Claude said slowly, that tightness becoming crushing in its grip. She knew, the way he spoke their names, she knew before he said it. His gaze was fully on her, judging the weight of her reaction. “They were captured in the attempt. I watched you declare them traitors and cut off their heads.”

Instinctively Byleth reached for the threads of time. That had always kept her students safe before.  _ ‘Sothis! Sothis please! I need you now. It has felt like a lifetime since I heard your voice but I need you. What do I do?’  _ But Sothis’ nagging voice did not answer. She did not manifest and call Byleth a foolish child. Her powers were Byleth’s, and they sat around her like a dark presence, unsure where to go without Byleth’s directive. 

This had happened years ago, not mere moments. What could she do about it? The answer was heartbreakingly simple. There was nothing to be done about it now. The goddess’ power whirled around her, waiting on her command. Byleth crumbled as she let it go, her legs shaking as she fought to stay upright. Was this the fate she would be forced to accept? Because if she could go back and fix this, then she should also be able to go back and save her father. But she had failed at that, just as she had failed at saving Sylvain and Felix.

“You can’t let me out,” Byleth forced herself to say.

Claude stared at her in surprise, rolling his wrist as if motioning her to go on.

“I have no idea where I have been for the past five years. I thought I spent them asleep, but I have no way to prove I was not the one who did all those terrible things. What if I did do all those things and black out again and become your enemy? You cannot let me go.”

“Wasn’t planning on it, Teach,” Claude answered evenly. He stood, stretching his much broader frame than what she remembered. He really had grown in the years she was gone. “But glad to know you aren’t going to make this difficult.”

Byleth was trembling. Her father was gone. Sothis has sacrificed herself to save her. Her students hated her, and with good reason it seemed. And Claude, Claude...Byleth wanted to go back to before the battle, when he had looked at her with such hope, his eyes burning with determination. The fire was gone now, leaving behind smouldering embers slowly dying. It was a harder, world weary man who watched her now.

What had Edelgard done to her? Byleth had tried to involve herself with Church politics as little as possible, and had rarely agreed when Rhea had forced her into it. Still, she could not see herself traveling down Edelgard’s bloody path, not after clinging to the dream Claude had given her glimpses of. When he spoke of them, it had been with such hope Byleth had felt a strange warmth that Sothis called hope surround her. 

That soft  _ tap tap tap _ announcing someone coming down the stairs echoed through the dungeon. It was a few moments before Yuri opened the door, Ignatz on his heels. And oh he had grown as well. He carried himself with a quiet confidence as he stepped around Claude carrying a tray of food in his hands. There was a speck of blue paint on his fingers. At least something had remained the same. 

Ignatz placed the tray through a slot in the door close to the floor, pushing it forward until the meal was fully in the cell with her.

“Lorenz will be down in a few hours,” Claude told Ignatz, placing a hand on his friend’s shoulder.

Ignatz nodded. “I’ll be fine. Get some rest for once, Claude.”

Claude’s lips formed one of those gilded smiles. He squeezed Ignatz’s shoulder before his hand fell back to his side. He joined Yuri beside the door, this time his eyes flickering back for just a moment before Yuri placed a hand on Claude’s back and guided him out of the cells.

“You should eat, Professor,” Ignatz prompted, his voice gentle yet unwavering. “It’s not much, but there is not too much to go around at the moment.”

Byleth forced herself to move, to reach for the tray before her legs gave out and she simply sank down on the floor next to it. She felt completely spent, and her stomach churned at the sight of food, but they had gone out of their way to feed her even when they could not afford another mouth. It tasted of ash in her mouth. Each swallow was a struggle, the whole ordeal seeming to drag on for eternity. 

She was not sure what to do with herself when she was finally done, so she settled on curling up again, tucking her knees against her chest. Her head dropped down, cradled in her elbows, shielding her from the pity and worry Ignatz kept shooting her way.

What had happened to her in those five years?

/

“What do you think?” Yuri asked as they emerged from the stairwell and into the open air once more. Torchlight flickered to light their way, the stars just beginning to emerge overhead. 

Claude hummed thoughtfully and placed his hands behind his head. “I think there are four possibilities, and I’m not sure which one sounds the most plausible at the moment.”

They climbed the stairs to the dorms, the events of the day suddenly feeling all too heavy. Yuri waited until the door of Claude’s old room closed before he said, “Tell me what is swirling around in that head of yours.”

Claude chuckled as Yuri undid the clasp of his golden cloak, allowing himself to relax while Yuri’s hands patiently undressed him. There was no move toward anything more than simply intimacy, not tonight. They could both tell the other was too exhausted for that. Their relationship was built on a grounding comfort that kept them both from falling apart. Yuri would take care of him tonight, just as Claude had taken care of him in those dark days after Byleth’s purge. 

“If you can think straight after seeing her again face to face after all this time,” Yuri tacked on. It was blunt, but Claude knew it was meant to guide and not hurt.

Still, he winced, not bothering to hide the reaction from Yuri. Then again, Yuri also had the habit of presenting Claude with questions in such a way they were difficult to navigate away from. 

“I don’t know,” Claude found himself answering honestly. “And right now I can’t focus on that. The Alliance needs to come first.”

Yuri gave him a look before it was cut off as Yuri pulled Claude’s shirt over his head. Unconvinced but too tired to argue as he normally would, Yuri remained silent and allowed Claude to go back to his question.

“So, possible scenarios,” Claude began as his fingers worked on loosening the ties of Yuri’s own clothes. “One, she is a really good actor and is putting herself in this position for some reason I can’t see yet.”

Yuri frowned, now in only his smallclothes, pausing as he pulled back the covers. Claude was not sure who had cleaned the dust from his room and laid out new sheets, but he was thankful. He would have collapsed uncaring into five years of dust, and knew he would be sorry for it come morning. “You don’t sound convinced.”

Claude shook his head. “Teach isn’t a good liar. Once she started showing emotion she was so open about it. It was hard for her to hide anything.”

Yuri shot him another look as he paused in the process of crawling into bed. Claude held up his hands defensively, laughing lightly. “I know, I know. She has changed since we last saw her. We all have.”

Pacified for the moment, Yuri waited for Claude to join him. “Second option?” he asked as Claude finally knelt on the edge of the bed.

Claude frowned, trying to find a comfortable position. It felt strange to be back here after so long.

“I can already tell you like this one less than the first,” Yuri pointed out.

“It’s not a favorite, no,” Claude admitted. “But it is still something to consider. If she is telling the truth and the last thing she remembers is falling, then perhaps she injured herself when she fell into the river and has lost her memory.”

“Really? You came up with an amnesia theory?” Yuri’s lips flashed a quick grin, comfortably curling into Claude’s side when he finally settled. “Next.”

Claude hesitated, and Yuri shifted closer, resting his chin on Claude’s chest so he could look him in the eyes. Claude snaked an arm around Yuri’s back, holding him close instinctively. He knew what he felt for Yuri was not love, nor did Yuri feel that for him, that was reserved for Balthus and his memory. No, there was none of that, but they had come together in their pain and shared the burden through physical contact. And tonight Claude certainly needed that comfort.

“Third option is that the Teach we have been fighting is a fake, like Kronya and Solon were.”

Yuri frowned, fingers tapping out a rhythm against Claude’s chest as he thought. “That’s the one you want to be true.”

“It is the one I think has the most evidence,” Claude retorted. “Based on the way she is acting and that she had the Sword of the Creator. Also, the last we heard Teach was still in Enbarr. It would be difficult for her to make the journey here without us knowing she left.”

“But not impossible,” Yuri countered right back. He flung himself away from Claude, resting on his back and staring up at the ceiling.

Claude turned his head, heart aching at the set of Yuri’s jaw. He was angry, fuming, most likely reliving the events that brought him seeking refuge with Claude in the first place. “Would you be able to accept her?” he asked, a note of desperation slipping through. “If that were the case?”

Yuri was silent for a long moment until Claude turned onto his side, pressing more of himself against Yuri. His partner tangled their fingers together, lifting Claude’s hand to place a kiss against his fingers. “You’re forgetting something important. That woman’s allies disposed of Monica and Tomas in order to make way for their doubles.”

“I know,” Claude managed to whisper. “But if no one could find her, maybe they took a chance.”

“And maybe they need the body for the process in the first place,” Yuri shot back. Almost immediately he sighed and turned his head, lips brushing against the top of Claude’s head. Gentler this time, he asked, “What is this last theory of yours?”

“I don’t know,” Claude admitted, trying to push away the thoughts of Edelgard’s dark allies experimenting on Byleth. It was something he had considered when he first allowed himself to hope for the doppelganger theory, and it filled him with guilt. He should have looked for her harder. He should never have given up trying to reach her.

Yuri startled, shifting over more so he could look at Claude’s face. Claude pouted at him, unhappy that his pillow had dislodged him. “You don’t know?”

“I’m keeping it open,” Claude explained with a shrug. “The situation is developing and new information could easily change any of my theories.”

“Or have you thinking of a new one entirely,” Yuri finished for him, slapping a hand over his face to hide his grin. “You are ridiculous.”

Claude opened his mouth to defend himself, but Yuri slammed their lips together, effectively cutting him off. Claude moaned into the kiss, melting against Yuri as the other man’s hand tangled in his hair. 

Yuri did not release him until they were both desperate for air, breaking apart while catching their breath.

“I have a plan,” Claude managed, somehow sounding less winded than he felt. “I need you on my side for it though.”

Yuri leaned down, kissing Claude again, so very gentle this time. “I’m with you, Darius,” Yuri whispered against his lips.

Claude laughed, a single genuine note. He felt Yuri’s smile against his neck, their legs tangling together as Yuri laid back down fully. “Nope. Guess again, Yuyu.” He was not about to tell Yuri he had gotten rather close and guessed his father’s name. No, the agreement was only to acknowledge when one of them guessed their actual names.

Yuri rolled his eyes and shook his head. “That wasn’t even an actual guess.”

“No, but think about how funny it would be if your name was Yuyu.”

Yuri buried his face against Claude’s shoulder to muffle his snort of laughter. “Good night, Claude.”

“Good night, Yuri.” 

**Author's Note:**

> So, yay or nay? Want to see more?


End file.
